With season kick-off just around the corner, we’ll look at all the 2023 Mojo Homes Cup contenders over the coming weeks. Russ Haylock caught up with Corrimal Cougars coach Drew Keys in our first preview.
After a difficult 2022 season, Corrimal Cougars Head Coach Drew Keys is excited by the fast-approaching 2023 MOJO Homes Illawarra Cup.
Beginning their pre-season in November and getting strong numbers to training each week, Keys believes the team is building and will be a threat to any opponent in this year’s premier competition.
A look at last year: The Cougars finished at the bottom of the MOJO Homes Illawarra Cup ladder, going winless and recording draws against Helensburgh and Dapto. Player availability and the lack of a home ground affected their campaign last season, with coach Keys confident of a much-improved 2023 in his second year as head coach.
New signings: The headline inclusion for the Corrimal Cougars in 2023 is five-eighth Jarrod Mullen, with the former Newcastle Knight and NSW and Country Origin representative signing on late last year and making a significant impact in pre-season preparations.
“He’s just someone who wants to help. Coming into a Club like Corrimal where we are trying to shift towards junior development, you want your senior players to be the type of person who is really approachable for a young kid,” Drew says of the signing of Mullen.
He’s really open about giving as much advice as he possibly can.”
The Cougars have also signed Englishman Danny Yates, a halfback with experience in the Betfred League 1 competition in the UK, and lock forward Peni Misinale, who played in last year’s Ron Massey Cup with the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles.
As well as these new faces, the Club has looked to lock up plenty of local talent, with familiar faces such as Bill Ryder, Joe Duggan, Viliami Mahe, and Paul Mahanidis committing to the Cougars once again this season.
Trial Matches: A recent trip to the NSW Mid North Coast saw the Cougars first grade squad come away with a 44-0 victory against the Forster-Tuncurry Hawks, which Drew says was an important trip on and off the field for the team.
“Our push support was the best that I’ve seen it in the three years I’ve been involved with the Club, and there were other little effort areas that were really good. We were really aggressive defensively, which was nice to see, and we communicated so much better across the field, which is where we sort of fell down last year.”
They also competed in the Shellharbour Knockout in early March, where they were beaten 16-0 by Thirroul. Still, they were hampered by injuries throughout the match. They have a tough early draw, coming up against last year’s top 3 teams; Thirroul, Collegians, and Wests. However, these matches should assist them in the early stages of the MOJO Homes competition.
Early Fixtures: Round 1 vs Collegians, April 22 (Home), Round 2 vs Thirroul, April 29 (Away), Round 3 vs Wests Devils (Home)
Drew Keys, Head Coach: “The energy of the side is completely different from last year. I felt that last year we were building in terms of the style of footy we were trying to play, but we just couldn’t quite get buy-in, so it took us a lot longer to get our style down. This pre-season, because it’s been so solid and we’ve been getting consistency from the players, and they’ve jumped on board, we’ve really been able to develop our style in the pre-season, which is really exciting.”